Event: ArtsVote 2010 Launch, ArtsVote

ArtsVote relaunches in anticipation of Toronto Municipal Election 2010

The launch of ArtsVote Toronto 2010 is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 5 – 7pm at UrbanSpace Gallery, 401 Richmond Street West. The ArtsVote Toronto 2010 launch will feature guest speakers as well as the official launch of the ArtsVote Toronto 2010 website.

ArtsVote 2010 is a coalition of volunteer arts workers and artists, working to elect candidates who support the arts in the November 8, 2010 municipal election. The goals are to communicate the value of the arts to Toronto city councillors, and mobilize all artsworkers who earn their living in the arts to vote for candidates who are committed to building a vibrant and cultured community.

Inspired by the model of the original successful ArtsVote in Toronto, and subsequent Artsvote models that have appeared elsewhere in Ontario and across the country, ArtsVote Toronto 2010 is co-Chaired by Camilla Holland and Jacoba Knaapen and an amalgamation of leading artsworkers representing a broad range of disciplines. Co-Chair Jacoba Knaapen explains that “ArtsVote 2010 is developing a wide discipline-specific network of arts workers and organizations including theatre, dance, opera, literature, visual art, music, film/new media, urban arts, youth engagement and social media to reach as broad a range of artsworkers as possible, educating and encouraging them to vote”.

The strategy is straightforward. “We’re going to create a communications network among Toronto citizens whose livelihood is directly tied to the arts, educate this constituency about arts issues and candidates, and critically, get them out to vote”, says ArtsVote Co-Chair Camilla Holland.  The ArtsVote network will be created and maintained through extensive e-promotions, the wide distribution of the ArtsVote Toronto 2010 Report Card which will rank incumbent and challenger candidates for City Councillors and Mayor, and finally through encouraging artists and artworkers to vote through a live phone campaign, run by volunteers.

ArtVote 2010 Steering Committee:

Camilla Holland (647) 278-0690, Jacoba Knaapen (416) 580-6997, Sue Edworthy, Ravi Jain, Shannon Litzenberger and Jini Stolk. Email contact: info@artsvotetoronto.ca

Join the discussion at: www.artsvotetoronto.ca

Event: Goodstock Toronto: 24 Hours of Free Services!, Harvey McKinnon Associates

Harvey McKinnon Associates (HMA), one of Canada’s leading fundraising agencies, is offering free services to three local charities during Goodstock™ Toronto.  Goodstock is a 24-hour marathon of free fundraising, design, and creative work, taking place on Friday, December 4th.

In partnership with HJC New Media, with whom we share office space in both Toronto and Vancouver, and numerous other partners and suppliers, HMA is soliciting project work from nonprofits based in the Metro Toronto area.

HMA has offices in Vancouver and Toronto, and works exclusively with non-profits, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Ecojustice, and many other national and international organizations.

How it works
Our combined team of experts in non-profit direct response fundraising and marketing will work on a variety of projects over the 24-hour event. The event will begin at 9 am EST on December 4th and end at 9am EST on December 5th.

The idea is based on “Goodstock™,” a project originally conceived by Knupp & Watson, a US-based advertising and marketing firm.

Interested charities are asked to submit their projects by email before 2 pm on November 20th. Winners will be announced week of November 23rd.

For more information, email kdudley@harveymckinnon.com or laura@harveymckinnon.com, or visit www.harveymckinnon.com/goodstock.  For company information please visit our website at www.harveymckinnon.com.

Event: Public Seminars, Jumblies Theatre

Jumblies Theatre is pleased to continue our tradition of Public Seminars with:

TWO EVENINGS at the Fixt Point Studio
1550 Queen St. West (W. of Lansdowne next to Mitzi’s Sister)
7:00 to 8:30 – Presentation and Discussion
8:30 to 10:00 – Drinks, Snacks, Mingling and Chatting
Everyone Welcome!
PWYC admission and refreshments

Wednesday Nov. 25, 2009
The Aesthetics of Silence

Presented by Jumblies Associate, Michael Burtt, and Musician, Julia Churchill

Michael Burtt and Julia Churchill will share both theoretical and hands-on aspects of a community arts practice rooted in the concept of presence and “teargas mysticism”. Michael and Julia are part of “Making Room”, a new community arts organization based in Parkdale. Julia is a singer-songwriter and group facilitator. Michael Burtt has been learning and working with Jumblies for almost 2 years in many capacities, artistic and organizational. He is an associate artist with MABELLEarts, and is beginning his MA at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University with a focus on community arts.

Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009
The Making of the Hilary Chronicles

Presented by Keith McNair, Jumblies Managing Director, along with available members of the original project team.
April 1998 -  the Hilary Chronicles project unfolded in 25 daily episodes, using printed word, photography, cabaret/street theatre, radio broadcasts  and a web site to enact and chronicle the fall of the Harris provincial government. In the story, Lieutenant Governess Hilary Western escapes with a jazz musician to live with the Who’s Left resistance movement, bringing the government’s law making juggernaut to a standstill.  During her disappearance, the Oasis Restaurant is declared a liberated zone and becomes a focal point for the counter-(Common-Sense) revolution.   Hilary survives a government sponsored assassination attempt and resurfaces to dissolve the legislature, call an election, and relocate the seat of government to Oasis.

For more info. please contact: info@jumbliestheatre.org or 416 203 8428

The Jumblies Studio has been funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council and the Toronto Community Foundation.  And thanks to Lisa Marie DiLiberto of Fixt Point Theatre for use of her great studio!

Event: The City As Art-Dean’s Lecture Series, Ryerson University

Cities hold their own magnetic appeal-one that goes well beyond buildings, parks and avenues.  Throughout history, major metropolitan centres have attracted people to both their energy and their opportunities.  Today, our urban landscapes have become complex tapestries reflecting multicultural origins, historical references, architectural constructs and human activity.  The City As Art will unveil views of three of this city’s cultural savy leaders as they share experiences and observations on Toronto’s evolving artistic landscapes.

Moderator: Rita Davies, Executive Director Cultural Division, City of Toronto

Panelists:

• Claire Hopkinson, Executive Director, Toronto Arts Council
• Geoff Pevere, author Toronto on Film, The Toronto Star columnist – film and literature
• Lisa Rochon The Globe and Mail columnist – art and architecture

This presentation is open to the public.  Admission is free

Ryerson University
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 10th, 2009
6:00 pm/ LIB 72
350 Victoria Street

Event: Play Reading Week, Tarragon Theatre

Tarragon’s Program Of Free Play Readings Includes Works-In-Progress By Members Of The 2009 Playwrights Unit

Tarragon Theatre is gearing up for their annual Play Reading Week, which runs from November 19 to 28, 2009, and boasts an impressive nine readings. Since its inception, Play Reading Week has offered both artists and audience alike the opportunity to participate in the creation of new work as Tarragon searches for the newest plays to grace its stage. Many of our Mainspace plays were first seen at Play Reading Week. Courageous by Michael Healey and Hush by Rosa Laborde enjoyed readings just last year.

All readings will take place in the Near Studio at 8 pm. Admission is free, and no reservations are taken. For more information, please contact our box office at 416-531-1827 or go online at www.tarragontheatre.com.

Thursday, November 19 at 8pm
BEATRICE CHANCY by George Elliott Clarke
Directed by Richard Rose
Beatrice, the daughter of a black slave woman and her white master, is sixteen and just returned from a convent school where she was sent “to copy white ladies ways”. She is the apple of her father’s eye until her declaration of love for a slave sparks a monstrous act.

Friday, November 20 at 8 pm
MOTHER OF HIM by Evan Placey
Directed by Kelly Straughan
It could be a morning like any other as Brenda cooks breakfast for her two sons, but eight year-old Jason’s refusing to go to school and teenager Matthew is under house arrest upstairs. As Brenda struggles for justice for her son, she learns it’s the laws inside the house that matter most. Winner of the inaugural RBC Tarragon Under 30 Playwriting Competition.

Saturday, November 21 at 8 pm
SMUGGLING BUDDHA by Nicolas Billon
Directed by Richard Rose
When Anna asks her children, Colin and Elizabeth, to return home right away, they expect the worst. As always, animosity between the siblings quickly surfaces, but after Anna’s unexpected announcement, brother and sister must face some truths that have remained obscured for years
— and deal with their mother’s impossible decision.

Monday, November 23 at 8 pm
WIDE AWAKE HEARTS by Brendan Gall
Directed by Richard Rose
Wide Awake Hearts is a nightmare about love and fidelity set against the backdrop of the Toronto film industry. Four nameless characters are ripped from one scene into the next against their will and before they are ready, blurring the fine line between fiction and reality.

Tuesday, November 24 at 8 pm
SPINE by Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt
Directed by Richard Rose
A family is caught in the crossfire of gang violence after a mother and son witness a stabbing outside Christie Subway Station. As threats and fears loom large inside and outside their urban home, it is clear their lives will never be the same again.

Wednesday, November 25 at 8 pm
CARRIED AWAY ON THE CREST OF A WAVE by David Yee
Directed by Richard Rose
Set in the years following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, Carried Away on the Crest of a Wave is a play about causality and the interconnectedness of things. From a hitman in Bangkok, to a priest in Tamil Nadu, to a housewife in Utah, it asks what happens when the events that tie us together are the same that tear us apart.

Thursday, November 26 at 8 pm
INCENDIARIES by Jane Maggs
Directed by Richard Rose
He saves her, she burns him, he plays her a song he wrote, she teaches him all humans are capable of all things. And after a life altering irrevocable act, they divide on an issue. She realizes all humans are not capable of all things at the precise moment he realizes they definitely are.

Friday, November 27 at 8 pm
THE ATTIC SEQUEL by Jennifer Brewin, Leah Cherniak, Ann Marie MacDonald, Alisa
Palmer and Martha Ross
Directed by Alisa Palmer
This follow up to the acclaimed The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls opens twenty years later as the sisters reconvene for a family crisis. Jayne and Jojo will do anything to rescue Jelly, but end up rescuing themselves instead in this painfully funny look at family intimacy and the surprising truths of middle age.

Saturday, November 28 at 8 pm
BETHLEHEM by Aaron Bushkowsky
Directed by Richard Rose
Ari, who needs a better job to keep his wife in money, ends up being the foreclosure specialist for a bank only to foreclose on his wife’s ex-boyfriend – a man she never “got over”. A funny, dark comedy about betrayal and interest rates.

Event: You’ve Seen The Shows, Now Meet The Neighbourhood!, Theatre Passe Muraille

There is a special Theatre Passe Muraille event this Saturday October 31st, 2009- a walking tour with our city Councillor Adam Vaughan, starting at 12:00. This event came about as a result of a “Jane’s Walk” last year.

Join local City Councillor Adam Vaughan’s walking tour through the alleys and communities that are home to Theatre Passe Muraille and Factory Theatre. The tour will link the two theatres not by walking along nearby main streets, but rather by strolling through the neighbourhoods that surround them. Cultural and arts organizations will be explored and looked at from a unique urban perspective.

The walk will start at Theatre Passe Muraille and wind its way toward the Cameron House, passing Alexandra Park and neighbourhood fabric stores. From there we will cross Queen Street West and explore Toronto’s best open air art gallery. New projects on Richmond Street and the Toronto Arts Council will be highlighted as you move south to Factory Theatre where you can take in LabCab. The walk will demonstrate how neighbourhoods and the arts flourish in tandem.

Event: Songs & Celebration: An Evening of Songs from Jewish Composers, Harold Green Jewish Theatre

The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company presents Songs & Celebration:  An Evening of Songs from Jewish Composers featuring stars of the Canadian musical theatre and hosted by Colin Mochrie (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) & Deb McGrath (“Little Mosque on the Prairie”) on Monday, November 16 at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre.

Scheduled to perform* are:

• Thom Allison (Outrageous, Elegies: A Song Cycle);
• Adam Brazier (Women in White, Into The Woods);
• Michael Burgess (Les Misérables);
• Brent Carver (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade);
• Juno-Award winning singer/songwriter Melanie Doane;
• Ted Dykstra (2 Pianos, 4 Hands);
• Lisa Horner (My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding);
• Sharron Matthews (Sharron’s Party!);
• Elicia MacKenzie (The Sound of Music);
• Co-Artistic Director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Avery Saltzman (The Pajama Game, Candide);
• Theresa Tova (Still The Night);
• Aaron Walpole (“Canadian Idol,” Nursery School Musical);
• Paula Wolfson (Arthouse Cabaret)
• Cast members from the hit musical Jersey Boys.

“Musical theatre has been an integral part of American society since its inception,” said Avery Saltzman, co-Artistic Director of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company.  “And it was Jewish composers and lyricists specifically who created and defined America on the musical theater stage.  We have gathered some of the best theatre artists in Canada to celebrate and sing those songs.”

Tickets for Songs & Celebration:  An Evening of Songs from Jewish Composers are $100 and $125 (tax receipt for maximum allowable) with all proceeds going to the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company.

The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company is Toronto’s only professional theatre company established to celebrate, illuminate and share Jewish culture.  Their 2009/2010 season recently launched with the critically-acclaimed Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears starring Theodore Bikel.  The season continues with the world premiere of Yichud (Seclusion) by Julie Tepperman
(February 5 – March 7, 2010) and The Soul of Gershwin: The Musical Journey of an American Klezmer (May 1 – 9, 2010).

Songs & Celebration:  An Evening of Songs from Jewish Composers
Hosted by Colin Mochrie & Deb McGrath
Monday, November 16, 7:30pm
Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front Street East, Toronto
Tickets: Box Office:  27 Front St E (Mon – Sat, 12noon – 6 pm)
By Phone:  416.366.7723 or 1.800.708.6754 (Mon – Sat, 12noon – 6 pm)
Online (24 hours a day):  www.stlc.com

Workshop: Contemporary Dance 101: Enrich Your Viewing Experience!, Toronto Dance Theatre

An overview of key concepts and dance artists from the past 100 years Hosted by Bridget Cauthery Ph.D. in Dance Studies

A great way to enrich your experience as an audience for contemporary dance, this presentation examines the themes and developments that have shaped the content of dance today. Learn about the choreographers, the dancers, the cultural trends and the political context of this extraordinary art form.

First installment  November 9, 2009, 7pm, FREE
Winchester Street Theatre
80 Winchester St.

Visit www.tdt.org for more information

Don’t miss the second and third installments on December 7, 2009 and January 11, 2010!

Event: Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City, Artscape

Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City Day One Balcony Seats from $95

Click on the link below to get a sneak peak at the delegates’ program for Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City happening October 28 through 30 at locations around Toronto.

Delegates’ Program Sneak Peak Link

Book immediately for access as available seating is limited. Reserve online here or call Steve Fish at 416 392-1038 ext 35.

We hope to see you October 28 – 30, 2009 in Toronto for Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City.

You can find out more about the Creative Places + Spaces: The Collaborative City by visiting www.creativeplacesandspaces.ca

Announcement: Uth Ink Needs Your Help!, Playwrights Guild of Canada

Please go to the below link and vote for Uth Ink.  If Uth Ink receives enough votes, it will have a chance at some additional

funding.  Please vote for Uth Ink at http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf1641 Or Search for it on the Aviva website number code: acf1641

Playwrights Guild of Canada in partnership with [murmur] and ten community organizations, is proud to announce the third year of U^th Ink, a program created with generous funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Theatre Ontario’s Youth Theatre Training Program. This exciting project bridges youth culture with new play development, empowering young people to have a direct artistic impact in their community.

From 2007 to 2010, fifteen communities across Canada will invite 900 young people aged 12-20 to be inspired and instructed by professional playwrights, working towards the creation and development of their own plays, using “community” as a theme.  Then, using [murmur]’s internationally acclaimed oral history project as inspiration, each youth’s play will be recorded, posted online, and developed into a site-specific theatre installation in the young playwright’s own community.

U^th Ink is a partnership. It is a chance for community organizations to do what they do best: connect artists with the public and young people, and transform public spaces into places of artistic intrigue. During 2009/2010, U^th Ink will be hosted by: Lakeshore Arts (South Etobicoke), Tarragon Theatre (Toronto), Community Arts & Heritage Education Project (Thunder Bay), The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Third Wall Theatre, Ottawa Fringe (Ottawa), Carousel Players and Suitcase in Point (St. Catharines), Lost & Found Theatre, Magnetic North Theatre Festival (Kitchener) and ACI Manitoba (Winnipeg).

U^th Ink will be lead by Robin Sokoloski, Outreach and Communications Manager of Playwrights Guild of Canada, and [murmur]. Together with the local host organizations they will establish a unique opportunity to give young people a lasting voice in their communities while providing a professional artistic experience.

Seven members of Playwrights Guild of Canada have enthusiastically agreed to facilitate U^th Ink’s third year workshops: Thomas Morgan Jones, Drew Carnwath, Lindsay Price, Linda Carson, Eleanor Albanese, Gary Kirkham and Talia Pura.

To receive more information about the artists, art organizations or U^th Ink, or to make a charitable donation to support the program, please contact Robin Sokoloski, Outreach and Communications Manager, Playwrights Guild of Canada at robin@playwrightsguild.ca or 416-703-0201.